Page 37 of Inferno

Zero’s call came a couple minutes after I’d dressed. I pulled on my boots as the phone vibrated against the nightstand.

“Inferno.” His voice was tight. “I’m at your girl’s apartment to do the walk-by you guys wanted. The door’s standing open, but it’s not been forced.”

I was already moving. “Stay put. Don’t go in. I’m leaving the compound now.”

Since Juniper was still in the shower, I didn’t say anything. Instead, I left a note on the bathroom counter telling her I had to meet Zero. Not a lie. And, really, there was no point telling her anything until I knew what the hell was going on.

Once I pulled in front of the four-unit apartment building, I headed to her door. Zero stood against the wall next to it watching as I approached. One hand rested near his waistband where I knew the kid kept a knife.

“Nobody’s come or gone since I got here,” he said. “Door was like this when I arrived. I called you before I entered.”

“Good.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “Stay here and keep watch. If anyone approaches who’s not Kiss of Death, call Hawk.”

He gave me a crisp nod, his eyes still wide with shock. “OK.”

“Hey.” I stopped and made Zero look at me. “You did good, OK?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Sorry, man.”

“Just keep watch, Zero. I’ll check it out.”

As I took in the entrance, I tried to eye it clinically. The door stood open about six inches. No splintering around the deadbolt or no marks on the strike plate. The hinges were clean. Either he’d had a key, which meant he’d kept one from when they were together, or he’d had one made, or he’d talked his way past the building management. None of the options made me feel better.

I pushed the door open with my toe and stepped inside. The entryway was freakishly neat, but I noticed that, instead of all Brett’s things being gone, they were in plain sight. His shoes sat next to the wall by the door, jacket hung on the coat rack above that, and his watch sat in the dish next to his keys on the table along with some change. Pictures of him I knew Juniper had put in the box to go back to Brett now sat on the coffee table and the bookshelf. The bathroom was clean, but his toothbrush, shaving kit, and toiletries claimed one end of the vanity and shower. In her bedroom, all his clothes had been moved back into the closet and drawers.

Her clothes hung in the closet beside his, but I noticed something odd. As I moved through the garments, I saw every piece of Juniper’s clothing had been sliced down the middle. The cuts were clean and the clothes still hung on their hangers, though some had slipped as I moved them.

The photographs in this room had been treated the same way. Every picture of her had been removed from its frame, and cut down the center, then replaced in the frame slightly offset so she couldn’t fail to notice. The one picture of her sitting on her nightstand, however, had been torn, splitting her face in jagged, torn edges.

It wasn’t the picture that caught my attention, though. It’s what the frame sat on. A neat stack of papers with the cover sheet staring back at me. My court docket printout from Davidson County Criminal Court. Everything I’d told her on the mountain. Beneath that lay a printout from a local newspaper’s online archive. The headline read, Fire Chief Sentenced in Beating Death of Sister’s Boyfriend. The two-column article had a grainy photo of me in uniform, at a press conference from a warehouse fire the year before. “Fucker,” I muttered.

Behind me, the apartment door swung open. Zero’s voice, raised for the first time since I’d known him. “Ma’am, wait! Inferno said --”

Juniper came through the bedroom door behind me and she gasped. I turned to find her eying Brett’s things with obvious distaste. Each item of Brett’s belongings she recognized caused increasing anger. Especially the information Brett had left her about me. “That fucking bastard!” She picked up a picture of him he’d placed on the dresser and tossed it across the room where it landed against the bathroom door. “He went through a lot of trouble for nothing. And moving his shit back into my apartment? What the actual fuck?”

“What are you doing here, honey? Go back to the compound. I’ll be there soon, and I’ll tell you what I know, OK?”

She didn’t acknowledge me. “He got back into my apartment and moved all his things back in. Did he think this,” she gestured to the article on the bed, “would make me let him back into my life?”

“He didn’t think I’d tell you.”

She turned to face me. “You didn’t have to tell me. I knew you’d been to prison. I even figured it was something violent simply because most of the guys have either outright killed someone or beat a motherfucker half to death, to hear Darby tell it. But even if I didn’t already know, you’re twice the man Brett will ever be. There is no world where I trust him over you. And no way in fuck I’d ever choose to be with him over you.”

Heavy footsteps echoed through the living room into the bedroom. Knuckles came through the door first, followed by Hawk and Tiny. They moved through the apartment carefully.

“Zero called me,” Knuckles said. “I was with the girls at Haven when he did. Juniper insisted on coming with me. Hannah tried to send Darby with us, but Juniper refused, afraid it would be too dangerous.”

“Did you find a tracker?” I asked.

Hawk shook his head. “Nothing on her car. I’ve got Hannah searching her bag, but it might be better if Juniper helps. Sometimes, women have hiding places in their purses. At least, that’s what Darby says.” Hawk shrugged.

“Yes,” Juniper agreed. “But Brett won’t know where those are, or even try that hard to find them.” Her brow creased as she thought about the problem. Then she straightened and gave Knuckles a hard look. “Tell them to look in my grandmother’s recipe box. Brett knows I treasure that above any other possession I have. He knows I’ll keep it close if I take it out of the bakery.” She turned to me with an angry look. “I had that box in my backpack when we left the bakery before our ride. If it’s in that recipe box, that’s how he found us.”

Knuckles took out his phone and texted before giving Juniper a nod. “Good thinking on that.”

Juniper stood in the doorway to her bedroom, her chin up defiantly. I’d expected fear, maybe even anger. But now, instead of the initial white-hot rage she held tightly under control when she’d first realized what Brett had done, her anger turned ice-cold and intense. That coldness in her scared me more than any tear ever could.

She took a breath before she turned to face me, her eyes were clear and dry and utterly calm. “I’m going to kill him, Inferno. I don’t think I have a choice.”